thursday

Today's drive was an abbreviated one, because I ran out of time and couldn't make it down to Hwy 9... it will have to wait for another day. I needed to finish getting the Spyder ready for the track day tomorrow, do an oil change etc., and so I only had time for a brief drive up what I call my private test loop: Felter and Sierra, up in the hills over Milpitas and San Jose.

I did see some interesting things out there, but unfortunately I didn't have my digital camera with me so I only snapped a few with my cell phone. Some of them didn't turn out well, so I only have a few to share.


The road twists and turns up in the hills and offers some wonderful views of San Jose and the South Bay. But it narrows down to one lane in parts and has some precipitous drops right off the edge of the road, so you have to take it easy here.






At one point I saw something pretty bizarre: it looks like someone left their engine by the side of the road. Also along the drive I saw a family of turkeys, a mommy and daddy turkey led a few baby turkeys across the road in front of me. I took some pics of these but wouldn't it be just my luck, they didn't come out.

Tomorrow I wrap up the week of drives with the ultimate drive -- a trip up to Thunderhill Raceway where I get to push the Spyder to the limit.

wednesday

Today's drive was relatively short but satisfying. The road of the day: Highway 35, also known as Skyline Blvd. This strip of road runs along the crestline of the coastal mountains, running from Hwy 92 near Half Moon Bay down to Hwy 9 in Saratoga. The route is peppered with vista points and turnouts where you can look down and see fantastic views of the bay area on one side, and the cool blue Pacific coast on the other side. The road quality is pretty good for most of the way and the curves are more gentle so this is a good road for finicky passengers and people prone to car-sickness, and you see a lot more sightseers as opposed to hardcore corner-carving enthusiasts.

Well after yesterday's little adventures, today's journey was comparatively uneventful. I ran out of time so I did not get to cruise Hwy 9 but perhaps I will pick up where I left off tomorrow and work my way down to Santa Cruz. Without further ado here are some of my pics.













see more of the Wednesday drive photos here.

tuesday

Day 2 of the inaugural Summer Drive Week yielded another spectacular day of driving and sightseeing along some of the Bay Area's most remote backroads. For today's drive I selected Highway 130, the drive up and over Mt. Hamilton. My ride for this journey is the Lexus IS350. As with all the other posts, click on the photo thumbnails for a larger view.

The drive up to Mt. Hamilton begins in East San Jose, heading up some back country roads that are probably over 150 years old.

They started as an old trail up to the 4200 ft peak where the University of California built the Lick Observatory back in the 1880s. The Observatory remains open to this day, and is open to visitors with daily tours. The roads are narrow and super twisty, with multiple hairpins and switchbacks as it winds its way up the mountain. And mere feet away from the edge of the road, the ground drops away in steep sheer edges. The vistas of the bay area below are breath-taking, but sight seeing is best left to passengers because the driver definitely has his or her hands full. Many a motorist, motorcyclist or bicyclist has fallen victim to this road, and sometimes their mistake or lapse of concentration is fatal. You definitely have to respect this road, and navigate your way up carefully.

When I got up to the Observatory I saw this old school VW Beetle parked there and just had to snap it. It really set the scene and you could imagine the place looking pretty much the same some 40 years ago.

There's a gift shop at the Observatory and I had to stop in and check it out, and chat briefly with the lady who runs it. She told me that it snows up on Mt. Hamilton nearly every year, and the postcards on display showed the whole area lightly coated in white snow -- a stark contrast to what it was like today, with temps in the high 80s. I picked up a few postcards to bring home, some striking night and evening photos taken by a local photographer. If you go to her website (www.lauriehatch.com) the first photo on the page shows a lightning strike near the telescope dome -- that's one of the cards I bought.

Setting off down the other side of the mountain, the road's name changes to San Antonio Valley Rd. Slightly less treacherous than the San Jose side, it's still a winding and steep descent.

Shortly after after leaving the Observatory I spot a bicyclist on his way up, and he flags me. I roll down my window and see if he is allright. The look on his face is one of exhaustion and resignation. "I can't make it," he murmurs. "How much further is it?" Not far, I tell him, no more than 2 miles. But it's all uphill. I offer to take him back up there, but he declines, choosing to walk his bike the rest of the way up. He says his friends are ahead of him, and they will probably come back to pick him up in their truck if he doesn't catch up to them. I make sure he has water, and leave him to face the rest of his daunting climb. I can't help but feel a little guilty pulling away, the cool AC blowing in my face, my butt settling into the plush leather seats, groovy chill music softly emanating from my 14 speakers. And so I continue my descent into the valley of nowhere.

It's literally the middle of nowhere. It's the largely undeveloped, unpopulated expanse of land that lies east of San Jose, largely inaccessible due to the imposing Mt. Hamilton that looms behind you. Once I descend into the valley the road flattens out and there are fields and meadows where cows lazily graze. I stopped and snapped a few of them. One of them seemed to stare at me and my car in amazement before turning its back on me and walking off into the distance.

Somewhere along the way down the mountain, my GPS satellite navigation system seemed to lose focus on the task at hand -- telling me how far to go to my next destination. In this case it is the Concannon winery and vineyards up in Livermore.

Believe it or not, the road twists and turns its way through nothingness, changes its name a few times and eventually takes you up to Livermore. That's fine, I know the route because I've driven it before. But I started my drive with only a half tank of gas, and I may have miscalculated the amount of fuel needed to make it back to civilization. Using the voice navigation commands as I continue my drive, I ask the system to show me the nearest gas station. The calm motherly voice informs me, "No selected destination found around here." Fantastic. My onboard computer tells me I have about 40 miles worth of gas remaining, and a few minutes later I pass a small sign that says Livermore is 31 miles away. It's going to be kinda close. Time to stop sightseeing, and stopping at every curve to snap a photo with the motor running. Time to stop downshifting and flooring the gas exiting every turn. I even shut off the AC to try and eke out a few extra MPG and start tackling the curves with a maintain-my-momentum strategy. Less braking, less acceleration, try to coast my way down the hills as much as possible.

I start thinking about contingency plans. Flag down a passing car and ask for help? What cars? The road is deserted and it might be hours before another one passes through. Find a residence or ranch of some sort, and hope they have some spare gas? There's barely anything out here. As a last resort I could call Lexus or AAA and they could send a tow truck out with a gallon or two of gas -- but out here I don't know if my cell phone has any signal from the network. Man, it's getting hot in here.

As I continue to make my way through the canyons, I notice painted numbers on the road. And the numbers seem to be decreasing. 19. Then 18. 15. If my hunch is correct these are mile markers. But markers from what? What lies at mile 0? The beginning of civilization, and the prospect of a gas station, or some historical landmark still out in the boonies? The low fuel light on my dashboard comes on.

At long last I reach an intersection and once again call upon my navi to find a gas station. This time I am rewarded with a multitude of gas station icons, and I gratefully select one. Running on fumes, I pull into a 76 and tank up my thirsty steed.

Petrochemical needs fulfilled, I find my way back to the Concannon winery. Unfortunately I have arrived shortly after the tasting room has closed, and so I take a few snaps of the nice picnic area and vineyards, and head for home.

All these photos and more are available to view here: http://www.imagestation.com/album/?id=2104855868

monday

Today marks the kickoff of my Summer Drive 2006 -- a week of drives through the Bay Area's greatest sports car roads. My ride today: the MR2 Spyder, which sports fresh new Toyo T1R tires begging to be scrubbed.

For the first day, I chose a modestly brief ride through the East Bay hills. From Fremont a short drive through the sweepers of Niles Canyon takes me to Palomares Rd, which winds up to Castro Valley.

From there I find my way to Redwood Rd, a set of gently winding curves up into the hills behind San Leandro and Oakland. An easy to miss sharp turn onto Pinehurst Rd takes me into a secluded redwood forest where the trees tower above me, blotting out much of the sunlight even on the sunniest of summer days. In the middle of the redwoods sits what must be one of the nicest locations for a post office in the Bay Area. A small creek flows right past it and I stop to admire it in the shade of the very tall trees. The building proudly informs you that you have found your way to Canyon, CA.

And then, because it was altogether too short, I turned around and drove back down the way I came, taking in the views and fresh air once more.

At the end of my drive, I noticed something caught in the front grille of my Spyder. A colorful butterfly had fallen victim to my speeding arachnid. It was sad, beautiful and poetic all at once.

For more photos from today's drive visit my Imagestation album:
http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=2104855868

variation

Another weigh-in this morning; I am now at -8 pounds from my starting weight. People are starting to say I look thinner, I'm not sure whether or not to believe that. Perhaps the sad look on my face is what makes people think I am thinner. But not to worry, things are looking up for me now! It's the turning point in my recovery. I had my first meal of solid food last night, and I am happily back to eating some normal foods, albeit at a relatively slow and careful pace. I am chewing on the right side of my mouth, very mindful not to get any sharp or hard pieces of food over into the left side where it could cause some pain and/or damage. I can also feel some strands of the stitches with my tongue which can be annoying. But hey I am just glad to be eating chicken and beef again. I've had just about all the jook, flan and mashed potatoes that I can stand for a while.

People work towards a goal a little faster with the appropriate motivation, so for me it's all about looking forward to a good burger and some fries again. It seems the battle to build the ultimate burger is an ongoing one, and it's not just about bigger, but also better. With that in mind, I submit for your review, a new $100 burger patty created in Florida, crafted from the most expensive beef from the U.S., Japan and Argentina.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/100_burger


It's only a modest 20 ounces in size so it doesn't pose a threat to the size kings from Fuddruckers or Denny's Beer Barrell Pub, but it must be pretty high up there on the flavor scale. It's offered at a country club in Boca Raton where the price of membership tops $40,000. Crap, that's a bit much for me, I just want a taste of the burger. You think if I hung out in the parking lot of the country club, I could wait for a member to pass by and see if he would be willing to bring me out a piece of the burger? "Pssst, hey buddy, give you $50 to let me try some of your burger." Well when I am fully recovered, I'll probably just have a homemade burger party and roll up some nice fat patties myself. That will be tasty enough to tide me over until I find myself on the east coast within range of one of these burger champions.

provision

Before you conclude that my entire vacation is going to be a convalescent one, well that is simply not the case, though so far I have certainly watched my fair share of TV and played a nauseatingly ample amount of Gran Turismo 4 and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. Not to mention ingesting nearly a whole bottle of Tylenol. My plan for next week which by then hopefully will be pain-free, is to go take some scenic drives around the Bay Area and take some photographs of whatever interesting things I see out there. There are several very wonderful back roads or "twisties" which I have come to know over the last few years of sports car ownership; we're very lucky in the Bay Area to have so many to choose from. I plan to travel down a different one each day, during the middle of the day when traffic is light and I can enjoy the roads to myself. At the end of the week on Friday, I'll be taking my MR2 Spyder up to Thunderhill Raceway in Willows, CA and doing an open track day with the Sacramento Miata club. It has been probably over a year since I did a track day and I am really looking forward to it.

But first, some preparations are in order. I needed some new sneakers/driving shoes for starters. My old pair of New Balance sneakers are the most comfortable shoes I've ever worn, but man they are getting pretty old -- I think they must be at least 3 years old by now. There's barely any tread on them, and they're getting a little dingy. Ideally I'd just get another pair of the same style, but it doesn't look like New Balance makes them anymore. So I settled for a new pair of Skechers sneakers that look somewhat similar, and are very stylish -- nice two-tone shades of grey and black that go well with my black MR2 and my silver IS350. Does that make me metrosexual, that I color coordinate my shoes with my cars?

I also dusted off my racing helmet and started doing some cleaning; I'm also thinking of tinting the visor to help cut down on some glare. I recently tinted the windows on my IS350 (pics coming soon) so I might go back to the same guys and ask if they can help me with the visor.

And to make sure that the Spyder is in tip-top condition for the drives and the track day, I'm going to do some work on it as well. Check the suspension and brakes, do an oil change, make sure everything is working perfectly. I also bought a new set of fat tires, they are Toyo Proxes T1Rs, 205/50-R15 in front, and 225/50-R15 in back. I got them mounted on my spare set of SSR Competition wheels and will install them on my Spyder today ... then the car will be officially pimped and ready to roll next week.

admonishment

Another bloody morning ... and not just in the British sense, but literally. My gums are still bleeding overnight. My morning ritual consists of getting out of bed, rinsing my mouth, and going downstairs to take various medications. 1 of this a day, 1 of these every four hours, another of this one 4 times a day... so this is what old age is like. There sure isn't much going for it, unless you count all the AARP benefits and senior discounts at restaurants. Believe it or not, I've started getting mail from the AARP. (That's the American Association of Retired Persons for you youngsters out there who've never heard of it.) I wouldn't mind getting a few bucks off the Denny's breakfast special but c'mon, they gotta be better at tracking people's ages than that. The government can listen in on our cell phone conversations, read a license plate from outer space, but they can't ensure I'm getting correct mail for my age and demographic?

V. just came back from her first medical checkup in a while ... she only scheduled it after repeated nagging from me. She came back with all sorts of sample pills and an warning to drink less soda, eat less sugar, etc. Our counter is starting to look like the pharmacy counter at Walgreen's. But I take some dark delight in the fact that the tables are turning. At long last she is held to the same standard as me! Let's see how much she enjoys eating broccoli and low carbs for a while.

sanguineous

If you are squeamish I'd skip this entry... you've been warned.
















So I went under the knife yesterday ... before the surgery I had a "last meal" of sorts with V. at the Elephant Bar. What would you want to eat if you knew you weren't going to be eating solid foods for a while? For me the answer was clear. A nice juicy BBQ hamburger with french fries. I savored every bite and with some reluctance, pushed the plate away from me when I was done. So sad.

And so off to the dentist's office we go. The procedure wasn't so bad. The most ominous moment is when they cover your eyes with a towel so you can't see while they work. And yet it's a welcome thing. Not too many people want to see their own blood spraying everywhere while they saw at your gums.

I came home with lips numb, drooling blood like an idiot zombie, and scrambling for the pain killers. Those first few hours were rough, and I could barely eat anything, and even swallowing was a challenge. Fortunately the meds made me drowsy, and I spent most of the evening in front of the TV or napping.

I woke up this morning to find blood on my shirt and pillow cover. The stitches are still bleeding a little but it's probably going to stop by day's end. I tossed the clothes in the hamper for washing, feeling at the moment a little like O.J. Simpson.

The pain is much less severe today, and I was able to eat a little more. In fact I am starving today, and the memories of that burger are haunting me. Instead I have my choice of jook (rice pooridge), vanilla pudding, or apple sauce. Yum. I imagine that in a few more days after I remove the dressings from my mouth I will be able to gingerly eat some solid foods on the opposite side of my mouth, but I'm a long ways away from a burger or steak right now. Somebody shoot me already.

Hey, I guess there's a positive side to all this, I'm bound to lose some weight since I can't eat anything substantial. I weighed myself this morning and I am currently at -3 pounds from where I started. Let's see where I am after a week of semi-liquid diet...

denouement

Well one of Audi's diesel-powered R10 won the 24 Hours of Le Mans as expected, making a little history as it does so by being the first diesel to win the overall race. The French Pescarolo car finished 2nd, and the other Audi R10 managed to take 3rd despite some bad luck early on that dropped it back in the pack.

The more exciting battle was in GT1 class however, where the Aston Martins and Corvettes duked it out over the full 24 hours, trading lead position back and forth. They ran at nearly the same pace the whole time, but when the lead Corvette had to pit for a mechanical problem the 009 Aston took the lead by about a lap, and maintained it through the night. I went to bed thinking that Aston Martin had a win in their hands, but that was not to be ... with only a handful of hours remaining in the race, the 009 car had to pit for clutch problems and the 64 Corvette took the lead, and the eventual win. The 007 Aston finished 2nd in GT1 class. The most impressive part for me was that the 64 Corvette finished 4th overall and the 007 Aston finished 6th -- well ahead of many other cars in the faster LMP1 and LMP2 classes.

All in all a very good race to watch. One of the more spectacular incidents of the race was when a tire exploded on an LMP car, ripping the rear bodywork off the chassis and causing a spin into a barrier, which resulted in more bodywork coming off and a small fire. Check out the footage from SpeedTV here:

http://www.autoblog.com/2006/06/19/video-paul-belmondo-racing-courage-c65-tire-explosion-at-le-man/

fortitude

I woke up early this morning, leaping out of bed and making my way down to the TV. Not only is it the first day of my 2-week vacation, but it is also arguably the most significant weekend of the year for any true hard-core auto racing enthusiast -- the weekend in which the 24 hours of Le Mans is held. This year marks the 74th running of this legendary 24 hour long endurance race. Some of the world's most prestigious manufacturers and some of the greatest drivers of our time converge on the small town of Le Mans, France and prepare for the ultimate test of endurance, speed and reliability through the grueling day and night race around a 13.650 km (8.5 mile) circuit. Cars routinely push the limit of their performance around the track, hitting top speeds of over 200mph as they roar down the Mulsanne straight. It's about going fast, yes, but it's also about making sure your car is still running and able to cross the finish line 24 hours later.

To prepare myself for the grand spectacle, last night I popped in my DVD of the great Steve McQueen film classic, Le Mans. To this day it remains one of the greatest and most authentic films ever made about auto racing, and it is only fitting to kick off what is essentially an automotive holiday with a screening of this film.

So who will win the 24 Hours of Le Mans? It would be foolish for me to try and predict what might happen by the end of the race. But I'll say that I do have some favorite teams that I will be watching and rooting for.

In LMP1 class the dominant team for the past 6 years or so has been Audi. Their R8 race car has won nearly every year that they have participated in this event. But this year, they introduced an all new car -- the V12 turbodiesel R10. In testing and its ALMS debut race the car has shown impressive performance, outstanding fuel economy, and blistering speed. But they've also had problems with the transmission, causing one of them to drop out in the ALMS race. Will they be able to keep it together and once again fend off the attacks of the local favorite, the prototype cars of Frenchman Henri Pescarolo?

In the GT1 class, it will be an epic battle between 2 legendary manufacturers with storied histories in the Le Mans race. For the past few years the yellow Corvette Racing team cars have been the unbeatable champions. But this year the green Aston Martin DB9Rs are mounting a serious challenge and could end the Corvettes' streak -- can they pull off an upset and take the checkered flag first?

Who knows -- but I will be glued to the TV for most of the day to watch and find out!

chemical

It's hard to believe but I have not taken any vacation yet this year... and I will rack up a mind-boggling 49 days of vacation by the end of this year due to unused days rolled over from last year. That means I could take a week off every month from now until December and still have leftover days. It would be great, if my work permitted it. I'm usually too busy to take off that much time. But hey they give it to me for a reason, so I'm going to take some of it for sure. I'll be taking 2 weeks off at the end of this month (June). V. doesn't want to take enough time off to travel anywhere until later in the fall, so I may just plan little day trips here and there around the Bay Area. I could also do a few long endurance races on my PS2 with Gran Turismo 4, or play all of my Grand Theft Auto games back-to-back.


It's not all fun and games though. Since I finally have the time to do it I am going to finish the periodontal surgery that I started last year. Last year I had one side of my mouth done and it was probably the worst pain I've ever experienced. I had to chew food only on one side of my mouth for months while it healed. Now it's time to do the other side. I've got prescriptions for hydrocodone, the generic form of Vicodin, but last time it didn't kill all the pain. I think I learned my lesson and I'll be taking those pills early and regularly this time. I told my coworkers I'm going to call them and leave funny messages while I'm flying high as a kite.

Speaking of high, check out one of my favorite music videos of all time, from the Chemical Brothers -- the song is "Get Yourself High". The song was so catchy, I found myself singing it for days... and the video is pure brilliance.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIoMUne4t9Y

oneupmanship

And just when I thought the 11-pound burger at Denny's Beer Barrel was plenty big enough, another burger comes along to take the crown as world's largest burger. The $250 burger from a Fuddruckers in Connecticut weighs 29.5 pounds and starts off with 33-pounds of beef before cooking. Holy moly, that's big. Why can't we find a place like that here in California? Ok, $250 for a burger is a little much but c'mon, you know you want a picture of yourself putting your arms around that thing.

http://www.slashfood.com/2006/06/03/record-breaking-burger/

prime

Hey, it's Friday so you get 2-for-1 action today on the blog!
Just caught wind of a live-action Transformers movie that will be out in Summer 2007. Director Michael Bay (The Rock, Armageddon) will team up with DreamWorks and executive producer Steven Spielberg. That should be awesome. I was a big fan of the Transformers when I was a kid, and watched the cartoon series on TV every day. In fact I think I am going to add the 1986 Transformers: The Movie to my Blockbuster queue. The improvements in computer generated animation and special effects in the past few years are amazing and this kind of movie would not have been possible 5 or 10 years ago.

For a taste of what the movie might look like (only less violent and a little bit more of a metrosexual tone), check out this Citroen C4 ad:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4ckJFNkra8&search=citroen%20C4

The film's official site (too early to see much there): http://www.transformerslive.com/

Coming out in the next few weeks are two other auto-related films -- The Pixar animation film Cars, and Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift. I'm excited about Cars, but I'm not so sure how I feel about Tokyo Drift. I'll probably end up going to see both, but I feel a lot more confident that Cars will do well in the box office. Tokyo Drift will be exciting to watch I'm sure but I have a feeling bad acting and poor scripting will be weighing that one down. One upside though, "Snowman" Paul Walker won't be in this third installment of the series... we need a new white boy to teach the Japanese how to race and drift! Yeah, right.

gluttony

Well it's been an incredibly bad week for diet and exercise if you ask me ... especially coming off of the Memorial Day weekend. Over the past 3-day weekend and this week, I've had it all ... lobster and crab, 7 courses of beef, BBQ ribs, sushi rolls, a burger, fajitas, fried rice. Tofu, rice cakes and bean curd were definitely not high on the list. And to top it all off, the gym at work has been closed due to some mysterious plumbing problem every time I am about to go work out. So in my current fit of gastrointestinal debauchery, I am surfing the net for more ways to indulge my palate...













Loyal readers will probably recall the photo from "purpose", the man eating the ginormous cheeseburger. Well apparently these cheeseburgers are served at Denny's Beer Barrel Pub in Pennsylvania. (Memo to self, check airfare prices to Pennsylvania.) Their claim to fame is the world's largest burger, with a 6-pound beef patty and a total weight of over 11 pounds. It's called Ye olde 96er, for the 96 ounces of beef. One can be yours for $23.95. http://www.dennysbeerbarrelpub.com/

The brave man wearing the helmet was none other than Eric "Badlands" Booker, one of the best competitive eaters in the U.S. He took up the Denny's Beer Barrel Pub challenge to try and finish the burger within the 3-hour time limit. In the end, he failed -- he finished it, but it took him 7 hours.

Was the 6-pound burger unconquerable then? Apparently not. In January 2005, a 100-pound woman became the first person to win the Denny's Beer Barrel Pub challenge when 19-year-old Kate Stelnick of Princeton, New Jersey, downed the "96er" in 2 hours and 54 minutes, just shy of the 3-hour time limit. For her trouble, Ms. Stelnick got a special certificate, a T-shirt, and other prizes, as well as having her tab for the $23.95 burger picked up by the house. http://www.snopes.com/photos/advertisements/bigburger.asp

A website honoring Ms. Stelnick's achievement here: http://www.katestelnick.com/

Need some dessert after that? May I recommend some cool icecream that goes down easy... with a kick. Check out Hotscream, the spicy icecream.
http://www.preferredadgroup.com/3.html